Swapped
by rushinda
Summary: Just when the crew thought it was going to be smooth sailing to Greece, disaster strikes aboard the Argo II. Jason and Percy must work together to set things right or things will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

Considering the last few weeks had been a mess of monsters, giants and stuff of legends that even he couldn't name, Jason was glad for a break. Leo, anxious to use his new solar-powered canons, complained that it was too quiet.

"I don't like this, man," he'd said to Jason. "I feel like a monster attack's gonna come out of nowhere any second now."

"Relax," Jason had replied, "Just enjoy the peace, would you?" He didn't admit that it did seem strange that nothing had gone wrong. Usually, they were lucky if they got two minutes to breathe. And now, when they were so close to completing their quest, the lull seemed odd. But he didn't want to complain. He got a little tired of being a demigod sometimes; it was nice to just be a regular kid for a few days. He wanted to practice his sword fighting and spend some time with Piper and he couldn't help but feel a little grateful for the break.

Today, the sun was shining on the Argo II as it sailed through the foam-capped, calm waters of the Mediterranean Ocean. Hazel and Piper were using the training rooms below decks so Jason took his sword down to his room to polish. His room was small but functional. Unlike Annabeth who had cluttered hers with books, or Percy whose room was a mess of clothes and discarded chocolate wrappers, Jason's was simple and clean. He hadn't hung up any posters on the white walls or added any personal touches. He still didn't feel like he knew himself enough to do that. After spending time at Camp Half-Blood, it was harder to feel truly Roman. It would take him a while to get used to his own skin. The only decoration in the room was a mirror that hung above the sink (Leo had cleverly installed one in each room so no one had to queue for the bathroom in the mornings to brush their teeth).

Jason blinked at his reflection. It blinked back, looking as unsure as Jason felt.

With a sigh, he flopped down to his bed, taking care with his sword, and began to polish it.

"Percy, Coach Hedge is going to kill us if he finds us!" Annabeth protested half-heartedly as her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, tugged on her hand and led her down to the stables.

"Coach Hedge isn't here," Percy reminded her.

For a split second, it reminded Annabeth of why they were really there. They were on a quest and they only had a few days before they lost their chance to defeat Gaia. But there was a voice inside her head saying _Go on, the ship is making good progress and there's nothing else you should be doing. You deserve this. _She shook her head free of the doubts, smiled, and allowed Percy to lead into the disused Pegasus stables.

Ahead of her, Percy grinned. He had barely had any time to spend alone with Annabeth in months. It seemed like as soon as they had come out of one war, they were pitched into another. And Tartarus hadn't exactly been the most romantic of locations for a cosy chat. He loved every second he spent with her – well, almost; they did have a habit of disagreeing – but one of his favourite memories was the time she had brought him down to the stables while they were on their way to Rome. Even now, when so much was at stake, the stables felt like an untouchable safe haven. He figured they could afford to take five minutes off to be alone.

The stables were huge and bathed in a blue light coming below them, from the ocean beneath the huge glass doors that made up most of the floor. Despite its size, the room had a way of feeling cosy. Percy grabbed a horse blanket which had been flung over a stall door and spread it on the floor like a picnic blanket. He leaned against the ship's wall behind him when he sat down; Annabeth leaned into him.

"Do you remember when I first came to Camp? How much you hated me?" Percy said, twirling a strand of her blonde hair around his finger.

"How could I possibly forget?"

Percy laughed. "But that year, you said to me you would always fight on my side because we were friends. I could never have imagined what we'd have to go through. The Titan War was one thing – but this? Who would have seen this coming? And we made it, Annabeth, we're still a team."

Annabeth lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring straight ahead and his green eyes looked dark. Angry. She remembered this look from being down in Tartarus. She had hoped it was a side effect from being around so many monsters. She knew and loved the Percy that made her laugh and could crack a joke even at the hardest times. This Percy felt like someone else.

Before she could say anything, Percy spoke again. "I feel so mad, Annabeth. For almost six years now we've been handling the gods' problems. _They're_ supposed to be the powerful ones. I get it, demigods are always their sidekicks. That's the way it's always been. But I am so tired." The anger left his eyes and all that was left was fatigue. He looked like he didn't want to fight any more. Like he wanted to give up. Rage was understandable. Defeat was undoable. Annabeth squeezed his hand but if he felt it, he didn't let it show. "I just want all this to be over."

"It _will_ be," Annabeth reassured him. She was surprised at how firm she sounded despite the fact a part of her felt like their ordeal was never ending too. "We_ will_ defeat Gaia, Percy. We have to. Not for the gods but for us. For Camp Half-Blood. And for Camp Jupiter and New Rome too. We have to do what's right, you know that. Sometimes I want to just let the gods deal with their own problems…but they're family. And family doesn't give up on family." Annabeth felt a lump in her throat and she forced herself to swallow. She'd been betrayed by family before. She couldn't lose Percy too. She just couldn't.

When she looked at him again, she met his eyes. He looked apologetic. "Annabeth, I didn't mean – I mean, I know what we have to do. And I know that I'll always be on your side. Always. And you're right. This will all be over soon and we'll have a new life. Together."

"Oh, gods, I swear if you hog the bathroom in the mornings…" Annabeth laughed because she knew if she didn't, she'd cry.

Percy laughed with her and pulled her closer. She smelled like lemon shampoo and it took him back to two years ago before she'd really been his to hold like this. He forgot his anger at the gods. Right now, only she existed.

Percy was smiling in a way he hadn't done in a long time. He leaned down and kissed her. Annabeth felt like her bones were molten lead, weighing her down and rooting her in this moment forever.

Suddenly Percy's arms slipped away from her and she felt him pull away. Before she could figure out what was happening, he was pushing her away from him. The force knocked her off the blanket and she slid across the glass floor, stopping only when her shoulder hit the wooden door of a nearby stall.

"W-what in Hades?" Annabeth spluttered. Her shoulder stung and she felt anger bubble up from the pit of her stomach. "Percy!"

"Annabeth?" Percy asked incredulously. He stood up shakily, looking down at his hands and around the stables like he'd been dropped from the sky and had no memory of getting here.

"No, I'm freaking Helen of Troy!" Annabeth yelled, standing up and rubbing her shoulder. "What is going on, Percy? That was so _not_ funny."

"I'm not Percy," Percy replied slowly as if forming the words were difficult. "I-it's me, Jason."

Annabeth stared at Percy like he'd grown a third arm. "What are you talking about? Making sense right about now would be really great."

Whatever Percy had been about to say was cut off by a crash-crash-_thud _from upstairs, followed by a loud yell.

"Is that…Jason?" Annabeth asked sceptically. It had sounded like him but Jason wasn't the yelling type.

"Oh, gods," Percy – or Jason – groaned. "No, no, this can't be happening!"

"What is going on?" Annabeth demanded, addressing no one in particular. She looked suspiciously around the room, as if expecting someone to jump out from the shadows yelling _Tricked you!_

The ground shook a little as footsteps thundered down the steps to the stable. "Annabeth?" Jason's voice yelled, sounding panicked.

A red-faced and confused looking Jason burst into the room, panting heavily from having sprinted down the stairs.

"Oh, gods," Percy repeated again, shifting uncomfortably, "This is so not good."

"Is that me?" the boy who Annabeth thought was Jason said looking bemused at Percy. "That's me! Why am I in Jason's body?"

"Oh, no," Annabeth moaned, burying her face in her hands, "I knew it. This was too good to last."

"So, wait, that's _my_ body but – Percy?" Jason, the real Jason who spoke from Percy's body, asked.

"Yeah, it's me," Percy replied, looking down at his more muscular arms and the Jupiter SPQR tattoo on his skin, "How did I end up in Jason's body? And, dude, your accent is so weird."

"_I_ have a weird accent?" Jason retorted, "You sound like a West Coast cabbie!"

"Watch it," Percy warned.

"Boys," Annabeth pleaded, stepping between them, "Accents are _not_ the biggest issue right now."

"You're right," Percy replied and stepped closer to Annabeth. He tried to put his arm around her but she shifted away.

"Sorry, Percy," she said, "I know it's you…but it feels so weird."

Percy swallowed his disappointment but he understood. Suddenly, realisation dawned on him and he turned to face Jason. It was weird, like looking in a mirror where your reflection had a life of its own. But this time, he was mad at his reflection. "Were you – I mean – did you _kiss_ Annabeth?"

Percy watched his own face turn a violent shade of red. "Well, no!" Jason protested, "I didn't ask for this! _I_ wasn't doing anything with Annabeth and it's not my fault you were when I was zapped into your body!"

"That's my girlfriend!" Percy cried outraged. "Gods!"

"Percy, it wasn't his fault," Annabeth said. But she felt freaked out beyond belief. "We need to focus on why it happened – and who could have done something like this? Jason, what were you doing when this switch happened?"

Annabeth realised she'd turned to face Jason's body but corrected herself and faced Percy instead. Gods, this was confusing. Jason started to explain, "I was in my room, polishing my sword because Piper and Hazel were using the training room. That's all. One minute I'm sitting on my bed and the next –" He felt it would be best to stop there from the murderous look Percy was giving him. It felt weird seeing his face from outside his body. He wondered if this is what he normally looked like when he got angry.

"Percy?"

"I ended up exactly where Jason stopped," Percy said, "I was in his room and suddenly I was holding a sword and I was so surprised I dropped it – sorry, man – and then I looked at myself I the mirror and I was _in Jason's body_." Percy shook his head. "This is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. And a lot of weird stuff's happened to me."

"We need to look at the old myths," Annabeth said decisively, slipping into Daughter of Athena mode, "Find out who could do this. We need to get to the bottom of this."

She reached out like she wanted to take Percy's hand but then stopped herself. Holding hands seemed wrong when Percy was in Jason's body so she lamely patted his bicep instead.

"Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

Jason couldn't stop his hands from shaking as they made their way back upstairs. Well, he supposed they were Percy's hands, really but he didn't want to think too hard about that. Percy was weirdly skinny for someone who ate so much and Jason tried to get his hair to lie flat but it resisted with a valiant effort.

"Do you even own a hairbrush?" he grumbled as Percy's black locks tumbled into his eyes. Again.

He saw his own shoulders – now in Percy's control – shrug. He took that as a no.

Daylight broke through the open doorway at the top of the steps and Jason could hear Piper laughing at something Hazel must have just said. _Piper_. How on earth was he going to explain this to her? He didn't even want to think about how she would react. A pat of him wanted to use Percy's power over the ocean to summon a wave large enough to carry him away. Or maybe a huge dolphin; that would be pretty cool. He had no idea what he could even do in this body and it scared him a little.

The second deck of the huge was where most of the rooms were located. They passed the door to the training room. Piper was leaning against it, holding her sword with a new kind of confidence that she' developed after training with Hazel almost every day. She stood up a little taller and held her shoulders back like she was finally done hiding in the background. She looked beautiful even though her braid had come loose during the training, and the shorter strands of her dark brown hair had slipped out of the plait. Their relationship had been rocky and it had been hard to really see each other when there was so much more left to do, but Jason had no doubt that there was no one else in the world he would rather be with when things got tough. He was so focused on the vibrant green of her eyes in that moment that it actually took him a beat to realise they weren't actually fixed on him.

She was looking at Percy with a smile so bright that he almost felt jealous. But Jason was nothing if not rational and he shook his head clear of the thoughts. Piper didn't know what was going on – and neither did Hazel, for that matter.

"Hey," Piper grinned, taking a step towards Percy. She frowned when he took a little step back so her hand, which would have come to rest on his arm – the one marked with Jason's SPQR tattoo – hung awkwardly in the air.

"Um, Piper –" Percy began but Annabeth cut him off by placing a hand on his shoulder. Jason's shoulder. Jason realised how weird that must look to Piper and his worst fears were confirmed when he looked at how quickly her eyes began to lose their green, turning a duller brown.

"Is everything okay?" she asked slowly. Next to her, Hazel shifted uncomfortably.

"It's probably better to explain it to everyone at once," Annabeth replied wearily. "Meeting in the Mess Hall. _Now_."

Nobody was foolish enough to wait for Annabeth to ask twice. As lovely as she was, she could be scary sometimes and no one wanted to get on her bad side. A puzzled Hazel volunteered to go get Frank and Leo and Piper, looking a little wounded, followed behind Annabeth and Percy. Jason wanted to say something to her but he didn't know what good it would do right now. She would find out soon enough.

Within minutes, the seven demigods were all settled into the mess hall. Images of Camp Half-Blood were displayed on the walls and, for once, Jason didn't find himself getting distracted by them. The first thing Percy did was head over to the snack cart and pick up a packet of sour gummy sweets. Jason shuddered; he _hated_ sour candy. What was the point of having candy if you were going to make it sour? It made no sense.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Piper narrow her eyes and he felt a twinge of happiness that she'd even noticed something so small as the fact that Jason would never pick up sour candy. He pressed his lips together to hide a smile and realised that he was, in fact, pursing Percy's lips and that thought was so weird that he immediately stopped doing it.

"What's the big emergency?" Leo asked, plopping into the low, red armchair that was his favourite. "Did Jason forget that there is actually decent candy on this ship?"

"Hey," Percy said with a slow, easy smile that would have looked right at home on his own face but looked downright creepy on Jason's, "There is no such thing as indecent candy, ok?"

"Percy," Annabeth sighed, "Can you, like, try to be a bit more…not you right now? Please?"

Percy stuffed a green candy shaped like a lime in his mouth in response which was definitely a thing only he would do. Realising his mistake, he took maybe half a second to breathe before putting the next sweet in his mouth. _At least he tried_, Jason thought.

"Whoa, this is seriously weird," Frank said, his eyes bulging at seeing Jason's body slouching low in his seat. Usually, Jason sat up straight like a soldier even when no one was looking. "Are you okay, Jason?"

"That's what we actually wanted to talk to you about," Annabeth said. She sounded tired. "Something crazy and impossible just happened."

"Crazy?" Leo gasped, pressing a hand against his chest in mock surprise. "Impossible? Happening to _us_? Unheard of! Sound the alarms!"

"Leo!" Hazel chastised and Leo sat back in his seat again.

Annabeth gave him a sharp look and continued talking. "Well, while you guys were enjoying your break or training or whatever, Jason was alone and I – uh – was with Percy in the stables. We were just…going about own business when the weirdest thing happened."

"What?" Piper asked. She was leaning forward in her chair. She was addressing Annabeth but her eyes were fixed on Percy – or, as she believed, Jason. "What happened to Jason?"

"Nothing happened to just Jason," Percy replied, rolling his eyes.

"We switched bodies," Jason blurted out. He realised that he had been totally silent, lost in his own thoughts, since coming back up from the stables.

"You _what_?" Piper demanded, looking at him in disbelief. She looked like she was waiting for him to say '_Psyche!' _and admit he was just joking. Considering that he looked like Percy right then, he didn't really blame her.

"It wasn't intentional," Jason said carefully. Percy's New York accent felt weird in his mouth. "I was polishing my sword in my room, alone. One minute I was on my bed and then – _bam!_ Out of nowhere, I'm down in the stables with Annabeth. In _Percy's _body."

"No need to sound so disgusted," Percy mumbled. Jason saw Annabeth try to suppress a smirk. "And it's not like being in your body is such a breeze. When was the last time you ate?"

"Breakfast!" Jason replies, exasperated, "I mean, I have a stomach, you know. Not a bottomless pit where one should be."

"Boys!" Annabeth stepped in again. "Focus, please?"

"So, wait, wait," Frank interjected, shaking his head slowly, "What you're saying is Percy and Jason just switched bodies? For no reason?"

Leo laughed, "This is brilliant! It's like _Freaky Friday_ without the fortune cookies."

"Brilliant?" Piper echoed, sounding a little panicked. "We have to fix this!"

She looked at Jason for the first time since they had come up. For some reason, this made him happy. Percy Jackson was such a hero that people usually found it impossible to keep their eyes off him. Jason felt a little better to know Piper's eyes found him first. He smiled at her reassuringly but he knew she would only be able to see Percy's face.

"The problem is we don't know how," Annabeth explained. "I mean, we wouldn't be here talking about it if we were. Trust me, Piper, I want all this to go away as much as you." She shot Jason a quick glance and he felt a little bad for her; it seemed like her boyfriend was always being taken away from her just when she got him back.

"So what's your plan?" Hazel asked. She had been pretty quiet but it was clear from her surprised expression that she'd been listening and also thought Percy and Jason were telling the truth.

"Well, there's no need for us all to do something," Annabeth said, sitting up straight in her in her chair. Her tone was practical, strategic. She was on familiar territory, finally. "Leo, you're probably best manning the ship. There must be some sort of god or monster behind this and if we're attacked, you know the defence system better than anyone else. Frank, we could use a second pair of eye up on deck for the same reason. You're the most equipped of all of us to adapt to fight off any monster. And Hazel, we'll need someone to stand guard outside the library door."

"The library?" Leo interrupted, "I forgot we even had one of those. And I built this ship!"

Annabeth glared at Leo so murderously that he actually shrank back in his seat. "Piper, Jason, Percy and I are best doing the research. Anyway, the library is our best bet to find out about who could have done something like this. And if we find out who could be behind it, we can find out how to take them down, too, hopefully."

"If anyone can find out the right information, you can, Wise Girl," Percy said encouragingly, laying a hand on Annabeth's arm. He withdrew it quickly when he realised that it was really Jason's hand and both Annabeth and Piper was looking at him really weirdly.

"Let's not waste any time," Piper said, standing up. Jason saw she was trying really hard not to look at him. He wanted to hold her hand and tell her it would be alright but since he wasn't exactly in his own body, it would probably only make things worse. "We should get started right away."

"You're right," Annabeth replied, following Piper and standing up. "To the library."


	3. Chapter 3

The ship's library was charmed to appear a lot smaller than it really was from the outside. Leo had designed it that way so it didn't take up too much space but could also hold all the thousands of books Annabeth had insisted they take with them. Leo had let Annabeth come up with the designs for it (something that had made her like the weird little kid a lot more). Crammed shelves took almost all the wall space – the only gaps were two huge, floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows. One window showed images from the Greek myths about the Greek demigods' parents; the other was almost identical except the three Roman godly parents looked down on them. Behind the coloured panels, the ocean, tinted the colours of the rainbow, rushed past.

"This place is beautiful," Jason said, looking up at the towering shelves which stretched far above his head. Annabeth looked at him gratefully but not for long. It would probably never feel normal for her to see Percy when she looked at him.

"What should we be looking for exactly?" Piper asked. There were so many books in here it would take them years to get through them all.

"We should be looking at the ancient myths," Annabeth said, guiding them through the aisles to some shelves towards the back. "We should check both the Greek and Roman legends."

Jason felt Percy's heart pitch a little. There were at least five shelves of Greek and Roman shelves. Some were modern paperbacks and others looked like original handwritten scrolls. Getting through all this material would take days, especially with their dyslexia and ADHD.

"Don't look so worried," Annabeth said, almost laughing, "There is no point in checking every myth on these shelves. My best bet is that whoever did this is a trickster god or goddess. I know it doesn't seem like it, but it's harmless fun compared to attacking the ship. Thankfully, there are only a few gods who can be classed as trickster gods."

She started picking off books so fast off the shelves that it seemed random but with Annabeth, almost nothing was ever random. She knew exactly where to look. From the corner of his eye, Jason saw Percy looking proudly at his girlfriend. Except he didn't look like himself which made the whole thing weird rather than sweet. Jason nudged him before Piper saw and he scowled.

"Piper and I will take the scrolls and you guys can handle the books," Annabeth said, dishing out the reading material. There weren't too many, about three books each.

Percy groaned as he took his books from her. "Do I actually have to _read_ this stuff?" he asked, widening his eyes in that look that Piper called the baby-seal death stare.

"That's not going to work, Percy," Annabeth smiled, "You've got the wrong eyes. Get reading."

The demigods picked up their books and made their way over to the reading tables. Jason hoped they would find something fast. He liked Percy but this was a level of close-and-personal that he did not need.

With a sigh, he cracked open the first book and began to read.

Reading was one of Percy's most hated things to do. Maybe he would have liked it more if the words didn't swim around the page and make his spin. He thumbed through the pages, skimming the lines for words like "trickster god" or anything about swapping bodies.

Across the table, Jason was doing the same except he seemed to be paying more attention to his book. Percy couldn't stop staring. That was _his_ body. He hadn't realised until now how lanky he actually was and how his unruly hair was even worse than he'd expected at the back. Jason looked like something out of a magazine whereas Percy looked like a stray off the streets. All the same, he couldn't wait to get his own body back.

"All these scrolls are about Hermes," Piper sighed from the table next to theirs. "It can't be Hermes."

"No," Annabeth agreed, "Hermes or Mercury, whoever he is right now, is far too weak. Besides, he would be on our side. This is not the work of Hermes."

Hermes hadn't always been on their side, Percy remembered. But that was when he has been angry and grieving his lost son. Hermes would truly be on their side now, he knew it.

Frustrated, he shoved the book he had just flicked through aside and picked up the next one. Thankfully, this one was much smaller. There were no creases in the spine and it looked like it had never been read. But it also looked much more faded than the others, like it had been forgotten and left out in the sun for too long, making its colours fade. The image on the cover was of a woman in a black Greek _chiton_ who was grinning manically. In her hand, she carried a golden apple. There was no title.

_Weird,_ Percy thought. Then he realised that he was in Jason's body and, in comparison, the book didn't seem all that strange.

Percy opened the book…and it was blank. He shuffled through a couple of pages and they were all blank. No words, no pictures. Nothing.

He was about to say something when a dark spot bloomed from the centre of the page. He could swear it hadn't been there a second ago. He blinked, thinking maybe there was something wrong with Jason's eyes, but when he looked closely, he saw the blot of ink spreading and growing. He couldn't stop watching as the dark shape evolved, forming loops and curves, forming itself into a word.

_Eris. _

Percy gasped. As the second the word formed, it multiplied, filling all the empty pages with that one word. _Eris_. _Eris. Eris._

"Eris," Percy whispered. It wasn't a name he would forget. He had come face to face with the goddess of chaos in Tartarus. There was no doubt in his mind that she had done this. Only, how had she escaped from Tartarus? He didn't have time to think about that now. All he knew was Eris was responsible. She had to be.

"It's Eris," Percy said loudly and confidently. The others stopped what they were doing to look at him.

"What?" Piper asked. "Who is Eris?"

"Eris is the goddess of chaos and strife," Annabeth explained. She shook her head, "But she's in Tartarus, right? She couldn't have done this."

"Eris is Discordia, right? That's her Roman name." Jason said. "She's here?"

"She has to be," Percy said. He explained what had happened with the book. He held it up for them to see. "I think that's supposed to be her on the cover. But for her to have made this happen, she has to be here. Which means she could be here right now."

Before any of them could say anything, the bookshelves began to shake. Books flew off the shelves at random, hitting the ground with loud thuds. The demigods ducked to avoid them, all crying out in surprise.

"Ah, how right the Son of Poseidon is. For once," a voice said. It was deep and gravelly and didn't seem to be coming from any one place – it was as if it was coming from the room itself. "Or should I say Son of Jupiter?"

"Show yourself!" Percy yelled, looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh, so demanding aren't we?" the voice sighed, obviously relishing the demigods' confusion. "Fine, have it your way."

Percy felt a shiver go down his spine and he instinctively brought Riptide out of his pocket, uncapping it and letting it grow into a full-length sword.

"Boo!" the voice came from behind him.

He whirled around and they all turned to face the woman who stood on top of a pile of fallen books. Her skin was pale but that was the only thing pale about her. She was tall with dark, wavy hair that hung messily around her face. Her black _chiton_ was badly knotted and her feet were bare and coated in what looked like coal. Her eyes were deep pools of black tar lined with smudged kohl. Everything about her was asymmetrical, hectic.

"Hello, young ones," the woman sneered, "I am Eris."

Then, all chaos broke loose.


	4. Chapter 4

Jason wasn't sure who had taken the first step forward but suddenly all of the demigods had drawn their weapons and were moving towards Eris.

"Hey!" Annabeth yelled, dropping her sword. "Stop that! You're controlling us! You _want_ us to fight you."

Eris cackled and disappeared into thin air. She reappeared a few feet away, leaning against a bookshelf of cookery books. She rolled her eyes. "Dear me, I thought you were the intelligent one. Of course I don't want you to fight me – I just want you to fight. Do you know how easy it would be for me to turn you all against each other? I am sure you children do not want to challenge me."

"Who even are you?" Piper demanded. She was still new this world and keeping up with all the gods and monsters was almost impossible.

"W-who am I?" Eris spluttered, outraged, "What do they teach you at these camps of yours? I am the goddess of all chaos, strife and discord. I am the power behind some of the greatest battles history has ever seen! The Trojan War? I caused it. With this!"

From the folds of her _chiton_, she retrieved a golden apple. It wasn't a golden apple like the kind you can buy at Wal-Mart fruit stand, but a real apple made from solid gold. It was so absurd that Percy almost laughed. "With this apple, I created enough chaos to drive the gods of Olympus and caused the bloodiest war in Greek history! All chaos stems from me. That fool Ares claims to be the god of war but all wars are caused by discord and I am the mother of discord! Without me –"

"We'd have world peace?" Percy offered, his head tilted cockily to the side.

"Bah, peace!" Eris spat, "Peace is nothing! What does peace bring about? Nothing but boredom."

"So you did this to cause chaos on the ship?" Jason asked. "Why? What do you get out of this?"

"Chaos, Son of Jupiter," Eris grinned evilly, "And discord. What more could I want?"

"I don't know," Percy shrugged, "Some friends maybe? A life?"

Piper put up a hand to silence him but then awkwardly dropped it; it wasn't really her boyfriend talking.

"You insolent boy," Eris snapped, "I have the power to turn your whole ship against each other. I could make you run yourselves to the rocks! I could ensure that you fail in your quest! You think you are better than me, mortals?"

Percy bit back another comeback when he felt Annabeth's elbow dig into his ribs. _Shut up_, she mouthed. He rolled his eyes in response.

"You weak demigods stand no chance against the havoc I can wreak," Eris said, beginning to pace amongst stacks of fallen books. Annabeth flinched at the sound of the books' spines cracking and pages ripping beneath her feet. "You think you could beat me? Fine, I will set you a challenge."

Jason wasn't an idiot. If this woman said she was behind the Trojan War, there was no way they could defeat her easily. He began to protest but Eris cut him off.

"Do you boys want to return to your own bodies? Then listen, and listen well. The son of the god of the sky and the son of the god of the sea can never work together in harmony. Your fathers have been trying for centuries now and they have failed. And they are gods! Only one of you can succeed in the fight against Gaia – the prophecy foretells it. But which one shall it be?" Eris tossed her golden apple into the air and it vanished. "The first of you to find my golden apple is the strongest, the one who shall endure. Find it by sundown and you will return to your own bodies _and _you will know which of you is superior. Fail and your bodies will be stuck in this chaos forever."

Without another word, Eris was gone.


End file.
